REGULATING ARMS TRADE (AUGUST 24, 2010)

PEACE is an essential building block for the development of every country, hence its absence retards overall national development.
The lack of peace is a stimulus for anti-social activities such as armed robbery, drug abuse and trafficking, thus fuelling armed violence that affects the society.
In the not-too-distant past, armed violence had a serious charge in the sub-region, where many lives were lost and large amounts of resources spent in restoring order.
However, while attempts are being made to restore order to many of the ravaged communities in the sub-region, one nagging issue that needs solution is the proliferation of small arms and trafficking of light weapons across borders in Africa, which continues to pose a serious threat to the security and peace of the continent.
What makes the problem alarming is the unregulated use of arms by people. The fact is that various governments in West Africa lack data on arms production and use, including which weapons are in circulation at any given period.
It is laudable that there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel with the news that the importation of weapons by member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) now needs the approval of the ECOWAS Commission.
The move, it is said, is to ensure transparency and also ensure that each state is aware of the arms brought into the sub-region and the purpose for which they were procured. This initiative must be all-embracing if the sub-region is to see peace for its development to better the lot of the people.
There has always been suspicion that people carry all manner of weapons, especially to conflict areas in the sub-region, and this ultimately affects the free movement of people and defeats the ECOWAS protocol on the free movement of people.
Producers of arms in the European Union ( EU) have agreed that due to the numerous conflicts and the proliferation of small arms in the West African sub-region, no arms should be imported without a “Certificate of Exemption” from the ECOWAS Commission.
Besides these supporting initiatives, the DAILY GRAPHIC suggests that member states of the sub-region should take concrete steps to take stock of the small arms, which are currently in the system and make sure that the users register them.
This will let the various governments know, at firsthand, which weapons are in the system and for which reasons they are being held and thus allay the fears of the people.
The DAILY GRAPHIC also believes that because of the dangers that small arms pose to the society, it is about time the production of small arms in the country was regularised and a data base established on the activities of importers of arms.
We, therefore, support the call made at the Third Regional Civil Society Forum on Peace and Security in West Africa held in Accra yesterday by the Minister of the Interior, Mr Martin Amidu, for closer collaboration among African leaders to implement far-reaching border management strategies to combat and eradicate the illicit arms trade.
It is our hope that the participants who are from the sub-region will go home to their various countries well equipped with workable strategies to confront the menace.